I came across an article about how much you should reveal about yourself in your sermons from week to week. Now I like to talk about myself at times, but not so much in sermons. I know others that feel like it’s a good time to be open or transparent or genuine or something like that.
It takes me a while to share with somebody about my personal life. I don’t just cast it out there. My blog has been fairly transparent and sometimes I surprise myself about how much I say about me and my wife. Sometimes I say things about her that I think might get me in a bit of trouble, but so far, I’ve stayed in her good graces.
As a general rule, I don’t think my work and life is about me when I’m around others or serving them in some fashion. Of course, I really love it when someone takes the time to be interested in me and what’s going on in my life, but that doesn’t happen very often. Most folks want to give their story and I’m usually eager to hear it.
In sermons, I always felt that it really should have very little to do with me. I did tell stories that often had me or something about my life in them but I tried to keep the interest off of me and on God.
So in one sense, I was not very transparent, since I didn’t talk about my self or really my feelings very much. I don’t preach any more, but if I did, I would still feel this way I think. I just have too much respect for what God has done for me and mine that I don’t want to take much away from Him. Truth be told, I don’t think He needs the spotlight. But neither do I.